It is no accident that rhetoric about
race has been ramping up at a time when racial politics can be the key
determinant for control of the Senate this year.

At least three states – North Carolina, Louisiana, and Arkansas – are red states
with vulnerable Democrat Senators up for re-election that have large black
populations.

Can racism really be as rampant in America as all the current rhetoric implies?

A Google search for “racism” will produce a long list of articles from the most
recent week’s news claiming racism on issue after issue of national concern.

We need to dig deeper and give more careful thought about whether racism is as
pervasive as all the rhetoric seems to imply or whether other factors are
driving the problems that continue to plague non-white communities. And if so,
perhaps all the rhetoric about race we’re hearing reflects more Democratic
political operations than realities of America.

In important ways, American attitudes on race have changed dramatically.

According to Gallup, in 1958 only 4 percent of Americans believed marriage
between individuals of different races was acceptable. Today 87 percent say
interracial marriage is okay.

A society, in which almost ninety percent of people believe it is just fine for
individuals of different races to marry and have children together, can hardly
be called a racist society.

And, of course, a black man today sits in the White House serving his second
term as president.

Granted, in 2012 the Republican candidate, Romney won 61 percent of the white
vote. But 39 percent of whites voted for the black, Democrat candidate.

It turns out, as the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza wrote last year, that in
every presidential election since 1972, the average percentage white vote for
the Democrat candidate was just about the same as what Obama got in in 2012 –
around 39 percent.

So a real headline about election of our first black president was that race had
hardly had any impact at all on voting patterns. The percentage of whites voting
Republican was around the norm as was the percentage of whites voting for the
Democrat. A black Democrat did not drive away white Democrats.

The Post’s Cillizza shows that the driving political reality of recent
presidential elections has been the growing non-white percentage of the
electorate and that most of these non-white Americans support Democrats.

In 1980 88 percent of the electorate was white compared to 72 percent in 2012.

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In 1980, 23 percent of Democrat voters were non-white compared to 44 percent in
2012. In 1980 4 percent of Republican voters were non-white compared to 11
percent in 2012.

The growing percentage of our voters is not white and they largely vote for
Democrats.

If the key difference between the two parties is about big government versus
limited government, much of what America’s future will look like will ride on
whether Republicans can make any headway with non-white voters with a limited
government message.

I believe there is much potential for doing so if Republicans would get down to
the work that needs to be done.

Since the Civil Rights Act in 1964, black economic progress on average compared
to the white population has been dismal. The gap in black household income
compared to white household income has grown, average black household wealth as
a percentage of average white household wealth has shrunk, and the percentage of
black poverty has remained almost constant at three times greater than white
poverty.

These realities reflect destructive big government policies that grip these
communities. But Democrats who want to continue to sell these policies will
continue on the racism message and claim that this is what limited government
ideas are about.

Republicans need to get truth to black populations in these key vulnerable
states. They need to hear about limited government reforms that will help them.
This can determine who controls the Senate next year.

Star Parker is founder and president of CURE, the Center for Urban Renewal
and Education, a 501c3 think tank which explores and promotes market based
public policy to fight poverty, as well as author of the newly revised Uncle
Sam's Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What We Can do
About It.